Summer Outing and a Daring Rescue

There have been several occasions recently where I have really wished I had a fantastic camera and had it with me right this second.  There was the time we were in California and the kids were playing in the waves at the beach.  I wanted to focus in really close on their faces and capture the sheer joy they displayed.  I have wished for one during several baseball games when the action was far away, happening at great speeds, and involving my daughter.  And today, at the swimming pool, I really, really wished I had a great camera.  And because I didn't, you will have to paint yourselves a mental picture.  I will try to make it worth your while.  First, a story.  Years ago we went to Florida on a family vacation.  Torey was about five years old and very adventurous.  We were at the pool at the hotel and I started looking around for her.  I spotted her on top of the dragon water slide about to descend to her own drowning.  The first thought that came to my mind was "She can't swim."  The second thought was, "I don't know if she realizes that she can't swim."  And she didn't realize it, and luckily, I was there to save her.  Fast forward four years to June 2008.   We arrived at the swimming pool to have an afternoon of fun with my sister, her children, and my nephews who were visiting from Missouri.  I hear my little niece ask Torey if she wants to watch her jump off the diving board.  I start setting up my chair and start looking around to check on the kids.  I find Taylor.  Jake, check.  And where is Torey? I start looking around and see my niece jump from the diving board.  And then, what to my wondrous eyes did appear?  It was my daughter.  The little one.  The one who can't swim, at least not enough to save her own life.  She is more of a frolicker when it comes to water.  My Torey, my little baby, is standing on the diving board looking down, and I am looking on in amazement.  I hear my sisters in the background, laughing a panicky laugh, and I see a life guard approaching.  It was as if things started happening in slow motion.  I look at the lifeguard and tell them to get ready because that little girl can't swim.  And then I start watching her, thinking she will get scared and back off the board.  And then....SHE JUMPS!  I start to panic, running over, but in slow motion, watching for her head to surface.  It does.  Her head surfaces and she starts to paddle in the eleven foot water.  Okay, calm down.  She is okay.  But she seems to be staying in the same spot, not moving, just paddling.  And then out of nowhere I see a red and white clad teenager execute the perfect dive and swim swiftly to my daughter's aid.  He was there in mere seconds.  He towed the little jumper to the side and set her safely on the concrete.  I rush over and tell him thank you and he said she just wasn't swimming like he would have liked.  "It's all good," he says.  Yeah, it was all good because he was there, in his teenage swimming body, saving my daughter, who apparently has no idea of her own mortality.  Today, that lifeguard was my hero.  Torey wasn't even phased.  I don't even think she understands that she was rescued, she just thought that nice boy was helping her out.  Just another day at the pool.  So I ask her, "Was it fun?"  and she just nods and runs off to play.